Quentin Tarantino Explains Why He 'Pulled The Plug' On ‘The Movie Critic' As His Final Film
The 2x Oscar winner recently explained that although he 'was very happy' with what he wrote originally as an eight-part series and then translated into a feature-length script but 'wasn't really that excited' when it came time for pre-production.
More from Deadline
Quentin Tarantino Drops 'The Movie Critic' As His Final Film
Cliff Booth Lives & It's No April Fool's Joke: Netflix, David Fincher & Brad Pitt Resurrect Tarantino Script
Quentin Tarantino Pays Tribute To Michael Madsen With 'Reservoir Dogs' Memory: "I'm On Your Side, Buddy"
'No one's waiting for this thing per se. I mean, I can do it whenever I want. I mean, it's already written. So OK, let me just not start it right now,' he explained his thought process on The Church of Tarantino podcast. 'Let me try writing it as a movie and let me see if it's better that way. And I was like, 'Oh, OK, no, I think this is going to be the movie.' And then it wasn't. I pulled the plug on it. And the reason I pulled the plug, it's a little crazy.'
Although Tarantino said he 'really, really likes' The Movie Critic, he noted, 'But there was a challenge that I gave to myself when I did it. Can I take the most boring profession in the world and make it an interesting movie?'
'Every Tarantino title promises so much, except The Movie Critic,' he explained. 'Who wants to see a TV show about a f***ing movie critic? Who wants to see a movie called The Movie Critic? If I can actually make a movie or a TV show about somebody who watches movies interesting, that is an accomplishment.
'It's a spiritual sequel to Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood in so far as they take place in the same world and they take place in the same town. But there were no crossover characters. Cliff Booth was never in The Movie Critic. That's all a bunch of bull****. That never was the case ever, ever, ever.'
Tarantino added, 'I was so excited about the writing, but I wasn't really that excited about dramatizing what I wrote once we were in pre-production.'
After The Movie Critic was teased as Tarantino's farewell film in 2023, with Brad Pitt attached to star, Deadline exclusively reported last April that the auteur simply had a change of heart and opted not to move forward with the project. Sources close to the director said he was going back to the drawing board to figure out what that final movie will be.
Tarantino said the movie was set in 1977 California, 'based on a guy who really lived but was never really famous, and he used to write movie reviews for a porno rag.'
Although a spiritual sequel to Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019) isn't in the cards for Tarantino's final directorial outing, Pitt is reprising his role as stuntman Cliff Booth for the upcoming Netflix movie off-shoot The Adventures of Cliff Booth, directed by David Fincher.
Best of Deadline
Everything We Know About 'Nobody Wants This' Season 2 So Far
2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Emmys, Oscars, Grammys & More
Everything We Know About Prime Video's 'Legally Blonde' Prequel Series 'Elle'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Greg Iles, Mississippi author of 'Natchez Burning' trilogy, dies of cancer at 65
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Greg Iles, the Mississippi author of the 'Natchez Burning' trilogy and other works, has died. He was 65. Iles died Friday after a decades-long battle with the blood cancer multiple myeloma, his literary agent Dan Conaway posted Saturday on Facebook. Initially diagnosed with the incurable condition in 1996, he kept his illness private until completing his final novel, 'Southern Man,' which was published in 2024. Iles was born in Germany but moved to Natchez, Mississippi, with his family when he was just three years old and developed a deep connection with the region. Many of his stories are set in Mississippi, including the 'Natchez Burning' trilogy, historical fiction suspense novels exploring race and class in the 1960s Jim Crow South. Conaway described Iles as 'warm, funny, fearless, and completely sui generis.' 'To be on the other end of the phone as he talked through character and plot, problem-solving on the fly, was to be witness to genius at work, plain and simple,' he wrote on Saturday. 'As a writer he fused story-craft, bone-deep humanity, and a growing sense of moral and political responsibility with the ferocious precisions of a whirling dervish or a master watchmaker.' In March 2011, Iles suffered a ruptured aorta and a partial leg amputation and spent eight days in a medically induced coma after another driver struck his car on Highway 61 near Natchez. He eventually recovered. Iles performed with the musical group The Rock Bottom Remainders along with popular authors Stephen King, Amy Tan and others. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
MediaCo's EstrellaTV Caps Off July With Surging Prime Ratings and Strong Year-Over-Year Growth Among P18-49
NEW YORK, August 16, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--EstrellaTV, the multiplatform Spanish-language network owned by MediaCo Holding Inc. (Nasdaq: MDIA), closed out the July ratings period with significant momentum, notching some of its strongest audience gains of the season and extending a months-long trend of year-over-year growth in prime among Adults 18-49. In the final week of July, EstrellaTV delivered 18.3k among P18-49 viewers in Monday-Sunday prime, marking the network's 5th highest weekly prime delivery this season and a substantial +24% increase over its season-to-date average. This robust performance capped a month in which EstrellaTV averaged 13.8k P18-49 viewers in the daypart, up +13% vs. July 2024 (12.2k). It was the fourth consecutive month and the sixth time in the past eight months that EstrellaTV has posted year-over-year gains in this key demo. By contrast, top Spanish-language networks Univision and Telemundo posted year-over-year declines in July among P18-49 in MS prime of -35% and -21%, respectively. Unimas saw a +15% bump year-over-year for July, largely driven by FIFA Mundial coverage. However, without the heavy soccer content in the final week, Unimas' audience fell -43% compared to its average across the first three weeks of the month. Strong prime time programming fueled EstrellaTV's July performance: Alarma TV (9p) averaged 30.4k P18-49 viewers in July, up +37% vs. its season-to-date average. In the final two weeks of the month, the show soared even higher, averaging 38.1k and 35.7k, respectively. Tengo Talento, Mucho Talento (8p) closed the month strong, delivering 18.7k P18-49 viewers in the final week, +10% above its STD average. 100 Latinos Dijeron (7p) was also a standout, climbing +23% vs. STD in the final week (18.7k vs. 15.2k). These gains reinforce EstrellaTV's growing relevance among younger Hispanic audiences and the continued strength of its programming strategy. MediaCo's EstrellaTV added more firepower to its summer season with the live music, reality competition, Objetivo Fama, on August 2nd at 8PM EST. Since its premiere, the show is building momentum with viewers and part of a non-stop music and soccer programming line-up this Saturday, August 16th beginning at 8PM EST with the heated Tigres vs. América Liga MX rivalry match. Source: Nielsen National TV View, National Sample; Panel Only, TV with Digital. Live+Same Day, Strict Daypart Averages Mon-Sun 7p-11p; P18-49 AA (units). Season-to-date (9/23/24-7/27/25), July 2025 (6/30/25-7/27/25); July 2024 (7/01/24-7/28/24). ABOUT MEDIACO MediaCo Holding Inc. (Nasdaq: MDIA) is a diverse-owned, multi-platform media company serving multicultural audiences across the U.S. Through its influential brands—including Hot 97, WBLS, EstrellaTV, Estrella News, Que Buena Los Angeles, and the Don Cheto Radio Network—MediaCo reaches over 20 million people monthly via television, radio, digital, and streaming platforms. Its content spans music, news, and entertainment across major local and national markets. Learn more at View source version on Contacts For press inquiries: press@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'The Flash' Star Danielle Panabaker Says She Was Paid 'Less Than $10,000' For Arrowverse Crossovers Despite Working Twice As Hard
Fans loved the Arrowverse team-ups, but some actors did not appreciate the terms. Actress Danielle Panabaker, best known for her role on "The Flash,"described long days, extra prep, cross-city moves and a paycheck that felt unacceptably small. On the "Inside of You" podcast hosted by "Smallville" actor Michael Rosenbaum, Panabaker said recently the crossover workload often outweighed the rewards. Although "The Flash" wrapped after nine seasons, her account adds fresh detail about how those crossovers worked, who benefited and why some declined to appear. Don't Miss: The same firms that backed Uber, Venmo and eBay are investing in this pre-IPO company disrupting a $1.8T market — Bill Gates Warned About Water Scarcity. How The Crossover Pay Worked Panabaker said guest work on other series was paid at a "top-of-show" rate, not at her series salary. Specifically, for "The Flash's" earliest "Arrow" tie-ins, she earned "less than $10,000." At the time, she said contracts did not "bake" crossovers into the terms, so appearances were treated as guest spots rather than part of her main deal. She contrasted that amount with her pay for a regular episode of "The Flash." "You're going to work twice as hard ... and we're going to pay you a fraction of what you're paid to do that job on "The Flash,'" Panabaker said, adding that the logistics stretched both the cast and crew. While "The Flash" filmed in Vancouver and "Arrow" shot nearby, she noted that crossovers still required additional preparation and script pages. Trending: 'Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. You can When Contracts Changed As more series joined the shared universe, Panabaker said the studio standardized crossovers. Later deals included crossover clauses and pay increases, she said during the podcast episode. She said the math favored top-billed leads from other Arrowverse shows — Grant Gustin, Stephen Amell and Melissa Benoist — while supporting players saw little change. Meanwhile, The CW Network, majority-owned by Nexstar Media Group Inc. (NASDAQ:NXST), staged events such as "Crisis on Infinite Earths." Episodes spanned multiple nights, increasing scheduling demands. According to Panabaker, some actors declined crossovers and producers "wrote that person out" rather than revisit rates. In the early years, she described offers as treating crossover like outside gigs rather than extensions of principal Routines—and A New Mission Panabaker described being "punctual and prepared," emphasizing how she valued knowing her lines and hitting call times. Yet she said that on some days "bad behavior was being rewarded," without naming individuals. Despite her frustrations, she acknowledged the franchise delivered more than 180 episodes and opportunities to direct — even if directing wasn't her favorite aspect of working on "The Flash," she said during the podcast. Today Panabaker has taken on a new role outside acting. "I'm thrilled to be partnering with Room to Read in their mission to nurture foundational learning skills in children all over the world," she said in a statement last week as she joined the global literacy nonprofit Room to Read as a global ambassador. The organization, which promotes literacy and gender equality in education, welcomed her ahead of its Fill Every Shelf campaign, aimed at providing books to children in low-income communities. Read Next: In a $34 Trillion Debt Era, The Right AI Could Be Your Financial Advantage — Image: Shutterstock UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? NEXSTAR MEDIA GR (NXST): Free Stock Analysis Report This article 'The Flash' Star Danielle Panabaker Says She Was Paid 'Less Than $10,000' For Arrowverse Crossovers Despite Working Twice As Hard originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
